Okinawa
Wowza what a weekend. I have a reminder of how great traveling to an island was from my very very burnt back. I may or may not resemble a lobster currently…
But this weekend was the perfect last hoorah trip for ending of the year. It was full of relaxation, awe of beauty, which together helped me appreciate my year here in Japan. My only complaint would be that we didn’t have enough time which is usually a common complaint when traveling 😉 Specifically for Okinawa though there are very limited flight options and also transportation within Okinawa doesn’t have many options in terms of getting around. We flew Jetstar which is much cheaper than the other options but the timing options were very sparse. So even though we took off Monday because of traveling we mainly had all of Sunday and then the night of Saturday. We would’ve left Friday if it had been possible but that wasn’t an option. =/
To get to Zamami island, (which was where we were staying) we had to take a ferry after landing in Naha (the main airport). The ferries only run twice per day so it’s either you catch it at night or in the morning. So for both arriving and departing we had some extra wiggle room. Our limited time meant I missed the epic aquarium but that’s okay because Sunday was a magical day. No other words for it. I had to keep pinching myself because that’s how awesome it was. For anyone that’s reading this that is still in Japan, you NEED to make the trip to Okinawa solely for this excursion.
Before the epicness though, Saturday we met Katiria at the airport as she had come to Okinawa a day earlier than us. She gave us a good laugh as she had stood with signs with Kelli and I’s name in katakana (Japanese characters for English words) and also wearing a lei. Only KK 🙂 While we had been waiting for her, Kelli and I enjoyed getting a mini peek of what the aquarium would have been like by looking at their small fish tank. But this HUGE blue fish was in there that was pretty cool to see from even the airport. We headed to take our ferry to check into our guesthouse. Not even one second after getting off of the airplane, I was hit with the insane humidity and heat. That was quite the welcome!
After checking into the guesthouse, we walked to a nearby beach that was absolutely beautiful with very clear blue waters. We had a lovely night swim as we watched the sun go down and the almost full moon appear through the clouds. We headed back and out to dinner for some Japanese food surprises as per usual… We ordered a feta cheese and olive appetizer and a caesar salad to share. The caesar salad had a raw egg oozing all over the top… absolutely disgusting. Then the cheese/olives as a very itty bit bowl that wasn’t bad just little. I tried a seitan stir fry with veggies that I actually liked. The best part? We shared french toast with ice cream NOM!
We all had wanted to go scuba diving but because of the price of about $120, long time of training and the limited range of feet that they allow you to dive we decided to look at our other options. Apparently whale watching is huge in Okinawa but that season ended in April 😦 so we missed that too. Kelli found us a sick deal that was a very short walk from our guesthouse where we stayed. We paid about the same price as scuba diving would have been but got much much more.
We started with kayaking and Kelli and I were together. I have been kayaking so many times so I wasn’t too worried, but I forgot how it can take a while to get used to synchronizing with another person in the kayak! We eventually got in tune with each other 🙂 Another new part was that the person in the back (me) had to also push paddles while paddling to control the direction of the rudder in the back. This felt very awkward at first but we got the hang of it! We kayaked to one of the islands and put on our snorkeling gear to head into the water. I’ve been snorkeling also countless of times but the last epic place was probably Israel in Eilat this past summer and then also scuba diving in Costa Rica. So I pictured something like those. But this was so much more epic.
The water was very shallow so at first it was a bit hard to wiggle our way into the water but that also meant we were extremely close to the fishies. Why this experience was so epic was because the water was so clear and there was such a wide variety of marine life. I have never been in water so clear and with so many shades of blue. As cheesy as it sounds, I felt like I was swimming through the pallet of an artist filled with an ombré of all shades of blues. I also saw so many things I’ve never seen before and was able to get so close I even touched some different things!! One of our guides picked up a sea cucumber which I had never seen before and I held it!! It felt like a furry-ish lufa haha. I I also got to touch a blow fish and a puffy fish which was sooo squishy! We were playing like hot potato passing it around to all of the people in our group.
Some other really cool marine life I don’t know the names of but it felt like I was an actual fish in finding nemo. I even saw clownfish in their anemone and dori fish! I also saw blue starfish, a stingray, a couple hugeeeee sea turtles which are famous in Okinawa, and so many more 🙂
After our excursion we went out to dinner at another Japanese restaurant and pretty much called it a night. We had a bit of a happy hour with a bottle of wine we bought and some snacks 🙂 We came back and played Heads Up on my phone (google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about) which is always a good time.
The next day we had to check out and head to the port for a 10 AM ferry. We barely made it (we were moving slow) and I enjoyed my ride laying down to avoid sea sickness. This was the FASTEST ferry I’ve ever been on it was more like a huge speed boat that made me very nauseous. So laying down on the top was the best solution. We made it back safe and sound.
Biggest news lately: WE SOLD OUR CAR that night… We feel a bit stranded and are very thankful to all the people who will help out up until we leave. Cause food shopping and getting around town is just a wee difficult without it. -___-
Only 10 more days until I leave Japan and 14 days from today until I’ll be back in New Jersey. So so soon. Just trying to get through the madness of the end of the year and trying to soak in all of these last special moments. I definitely won’t forget this trip to Okinawa ❤
Sayonara for now until my Japan goodbye post!
The Traveling Teacher 